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The 2026 FIFA World Cup, expected to be the world’s largest sporting event in recent history, is less than a year awayand the presale ticket draw is now live. The long-awaited tournament is set to unfold in North America and will be the first World Cup played across three countries, with 16 host cities across the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. In addition to making history for its multi-national hosting, this World Cup will also feature an expanded roster, with 48 teams playing instead of the previous 32-team format. Starting this month, fans are already queuing for a chance to score a ticket and watch their countries and favorite players compete against one another. How can I buy FIFA World Cup tickets? World Cup tickets are set to be sold in three phase, with the first phase kicking off on now. The first phasethe Visa Presale Drawwill run from September 10 through September 19, for valid Visa cardholders. Opening at 11 a.m. ET, the application period will enter a presale draw for a chance to buy tickets later the month. Successful applicants, who are randomly selected, will be notified starting September 29, who will receive a time and date in October to purchase tickets. Tickets will be made available for the 104 matches in all 16 cities, and will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis. Still, FIFA notes that receiving an allotted buying time does not guarantee tickets will be available. Phase twothe early ticket drawis set to begin with registration on October 27, going through October 31. Like with the first phase, fans will register to a draw for a chance to buy tickets. Successful draws will be able to purchase a limited amount of tickets starting mid-November. Phase threethe random selection drawwill work similarly to the previous draws, but will be held once the match set is set, and the 48 countries have been selected. Who are the host cities? The 2026 FIFA World Cup matches will be held in the following 16 cities throughout North America, with the inaugural game held in Mexico City and the final match set for MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. United States: Atlanta Boston Dallas Houston Kansas City Los Angeles Miami New Jersey/New York Philadelphia Seattle San Francisco Mexico: Mexico City Guadalajara Monterrey Canada: Toronto VAncouver
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E-Commerce
There’s good news for prospective home buyers and current home owners. Mortgage rates have ticked down in recent weeks. Unsurprisingly, the downtrend has caused the number of mortgage applications to surge, while benefitting current home owners. According to a Sept. 10 Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) press release, loan applications increased 9.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis last week from the week prior. Applications for refinancing were up 12%, too, from the previous week, and were a whopping 34% higher than the same week one year ago. Joel Kan, MBAs Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist, explained in the release that the dropping interest rates are a sign of a weakened labor market, noting that the 30-year fix rate dropped to 6.49 percent the lowest since last October. The downward rate movement spurred the strongest week of borrower demand since 2022, with both purchase and refinance applications moving higher. Purchase applications increased to the highest level since July and continued to run more than 20 percent ahead of last years pace.” Added Kan, The holiday-adjusted refinance index had its strongest week in a year and the average loan size for refinances also increased significantly, since borrowers with large loans are more sensitive to bigger rate moves. Refinance applications accounted for almost 49 percent of all applications last week. The refreshing numbers come as many prospective home buyers have seemed to accept higher interest rates as a new reality. According to a recent TurboHome-ResiClub Housing Sentiment Survey, in Q1 2025, 41% of homeowners said theyd accept a mortgage rate up to 6.0% on their next purchase. By Q3, the number was up to 52%. While the new report is certainly good news for those hoping to buy a new home, the 30-year fixed is still 20 basis points higher than it was a year ago. At the time, rates were dropping due to weaker than expected employment numbers.
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E-Commerce
Buying health insurance is about to become even less affordable for millions of Americans, if Congress doesnt act before the end of the year. A set of more generous subsidies put in place as a pandemic relief measure is on track to expire at the end of 2025. If allowed to lapse, premiums will soar for many people who rely on health insurance purchased through marketplace plans under the Affordable Care Act. The looming health insurance premium price hike is known as the subsidy cliff. Millions of Americans who arent offered insurance through work rely on the insurance marketplace and its subsidies for coverage. That includes self-employed, contract and part-time workers, many students and young retirees not yet eligible for coverage under Medicare. If the extended subsidies expire, people with marketplace coverage will see a 75% increase on average for their monthly insurance premium. A helpful calculator from the health policy group the Kaiser Family Foundation demonstrates how dramatic that change might be for American families. In one example, a family of four in West Virginia making $125,000 could go from paying $885 to $2,918 each month an increase that could easily put insurance out of financial reach. Because states have their own rules, income limits and subsidies on top of the federal framework, any pain from newly unaffordable premiums will be felt unevenly around the country. The higher costs could drive an estimated four million people away from the marketplace, sending the number of uninsured Americans up for the first time in years. Marketplace enrollment opens at the beginning of November, so Congress and the Trump administration are on deadline if they want to keep plans cheaper leading into next years midterm elections. Why did marketplace plans get cheaper? Insurance plans under the ACA have always offered subsidies, known as premium tax credits, that make them more affordable for people in lower income households. What is set to expire at the years end is the enhanced set of subsidies put in place as a pandemic relief measure during the early Biden administration. Those subsidies meant that many more households could qualify for help paying their insurance premiums. The expanded premium tax credits both boosted the portion of the premium covered by the government for many Americans and extended eligibility for the credit to households with an income above 400% of the federal poverty guideline, capping premium payments at 8.5% of income. In 2025, a two-person family with a household income of $84,600 or a four-person family making $128,600 could still be eligible for subsidized insurance premiums under the expansion. If the enhanced tax credits lapse, eligibility for the subsidies will revert to their pre-pandemic limits. Households that make between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty guidelines can still qualify, but families with an income exceeding those guidelines would again be on the hook for paying the full monthly premium. Millions of families that signed up with marketplace plans after 2021 may experience sticker shock, having never shouldered the full cost of their monthly insurance premiums. According to KFF data, marketplace enrollees in West Virginia, Wyoming and Vermont are poised for the worst premium price hikes. The two-year phase of enhanced subsidies was signed into law under the American Rescue Plan Act in early 2021 by former President Biden. The discounts were designed to be temporary, making health insurance more accessible during a difficult time for many Americans, but Biden later extended them for an additional three years through 2022s Inflation Reduction Act, his signature legislative package focused on the climate crisis. With the extension, the enhanced subsidies are set to expire before 2026 insurance plans kick in unless Congress and the White House intervene. The number of insured Americans is way up Insurance plans offered through the ACA, also known as Obamacare, have ameliorated the number of uninsured Americans over the last decade. The number of people without health insurance in the U.S. has fallen by 20 million since 2013, the year before the first marketplace plans went into effect. More Americans are signing up for marketplace insurance plans every year, a phenomenon at least partially driven by enhanced subsidies that make the plans more affordable. As of early 2025, 24.2 million people almost 7% of the U.S. population opted for health coverage through marketplace plans for the calendar year. The number of insured people in the U.S. is at historic highs, but that doesnt mean health insurance is cheap. Even with Medicaid and marketplace subsidies, more than 1.6 million low-income Americans still slip into a gap between eligibility for Medicaid coverage and marketplace subsidies. Almost two-thirds of uninsured adults surveyed by the KFF in 2023 said that they dont have insurance because they couldnt afford the cost of coverage. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 4.2 million more people will be uninsured in 2034 if the enhanced tax credits are allowed to lapse rather than made permanent. The CBO estimates that making the expanded tax credits permanent would increase the national budget deficit by $335 billion from 2025 to 2034. Republicans once battled to repeal the ACA, but those efforts were famously doomed by a dramatic thumbs down from the late Senator John McCain. Uptake of marketplace plans has soared since the programs early days, a phenomenon that runs in parallel with the rise of the gig economy, for better or worse. While the Trump administration hasnt been shy about gutting insurance coverage for low income Americans to pay for tax cuts, Republicans are wary about how the subsidy cliff might impact theirodds in the 2026 midterms. The Trump administration did just announce expanded access to low premium, high deductible catastrophic plans for people who dont qualify for marketplace subsidies starting next year, so right now it looks like the cheaper premiums that help millions of Americans afford insurance may not be long for this world.
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E-Commerce
Soon you may be able to book an Uber ride in the skies. On Wednesday, the San Francisco-based ride-sharing service announced it is partnering with Joby Aviation, a company developing electric air taxis, to bring Blades helicopter service to the Uber app as soon as next year. Last month Joby acquired Blade Air Mobility, which flies passengers by seaplanes,` in a $125 million deal, providing Joby with an established network of terminals. The partnership lays the foundation for Joby’s introduction into key urban markets, and for a faster entry into commercial service once its all-electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircrafts are certified. Last year, Blade flew more than 50,000 passengers in the New York metro area, including to and from Newark Liberty International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Manhattan, and the Hamptonsas well as in Southern Europe. As Fast Company previously reported, Jobys all-electric fleet is designed to travel up to 200 miles per hour, with minimal noise and zero operating emissions, with four passengers. The company aims to revolutionize urban travel with faster, quieter commutes and less traffic congestion. Were excited to introduce Uber customers to the magic of seamless urban air travel, Joby CEO JoeBen Bevirt said in a statement. Integrating Blade into the Uber app is the natural next step in our global partnership with Uber and will lay the foundation for the introduction of our quiet, zero-emissions aircraft in the years ahead. Together with Ubers global platform and Blades proven network, were setting the stage for a new era of air travel worldwide. Joby successfully completed a series of piloted flights in Dubai back in June, a first for the regions eVTOL aircraft sector. The company plans to launch there in 2026. Uber has been working with Joby to deliver urban air mobility since 2019. Joby and Uber financials Shares in Joby Aviation, Inc. (NYSE: JOBY) stock soared in pre-and early trading on Wednesday, only to lose much of the early gains. The stock was trading up about 1% by midday. Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: UBER) was down over 1%. In its Q2 2025 earnings, for the quarter ending on June 30, Joby Aviation reported EPS (earnings per share) of –$0.24, which missed estimates of -$0.18. Revenue was down 94.6% year-over-year to $0.02 million, coming in below analyst estimates of $0.05 million. Meanwhile, Uber’s Q2 2025 earnings beat expectations, with revenue coming in at $12.65 billion, marking a growth of 18% year-over-year, beating estimates of $12.46 billion. Earnings per share came in at $0.63.
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E-Commerce
A Senate committee on Wednesday approved the nomination of White House economic adviser Stephen Miran to the Federal Reserve’s board of governors, setting up a likely approval by the full Senate, which would make Miran the third Trump appointee to the seven-member board. The White House has pushed for an expedited Senate approval of Miran, who was nominated by President Donald Trump to replace former Fed governor Adriana Kugler. Kugler stepped down Aug. 1. Miran would, if approved, simply finish her term, which expires in January. Miran may be approved by the full Senate in time for the Fed’s meeting next week, when it is widely expected to reduce its key short-term interest rate. The committee voted to approve Miran on partisan lines, 13-11, with all Democrats voting against confirmation. Miran’s nomination has raised concerns about the Fed’s independence from day-to-day politics, particularly since he said during a hearing last week that he would keep his job as head of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers while on the Fed’s board, a historically unusual arrangement. Presidents have nominated members of their staffs to the Fed’s board before, but the nominees have always given up their White House jobs. Trump has hoped to gain a majority on the Fed’s board as part of his efforts to push the central bank to rapidly cut its key interest rate. Yet late Tuesday his goal was dealt a setback when a federal court blocked Trump’s effort to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook, who he has accused of mortgage fraud. It is now likely that both Miran and Cook will be on the Fed’s board when it meets next week. Members of the Fed’s board of governors vote on all interest rate decisions as well as on financial regulatory policy. Trump appointed two other members of the board Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman in his first term. Waller has been mentioned as a potential replacement for Chair Jerome Powell, a frequent Trump target whose term ends next May. Democrats on the committee criticized Miran for planning to keep his White House ties while at the Fed. The Federal Reserve was designed to make decisions free from political interference, guided by data and the long-term stability of our economy, not the political agenda of any one president,” Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, said in a statement before the vote. Donald Trump has made clear he wants to tear down that independence, just as he has with so many of the institutions that have kept our democracy and our economy strong. Miran said he would step down from his White House position if he is chosen for a longer term. Yet he can remain on the board after Kugler’s term ends in January, if no replacement is named. He has said in that case he would consider keeping his White House job even if he remains on the board after January, sparking fresh criticism from Democrats. The jockeying around the Fed is occurring as the economy is entering an uncertain and difficult period. Inflation remains stubbornly above the central bank’s 2% target, though it hasn’t risen as much as many economists feared when Trump first imposed sweeping tariffs on nearly all imports. The Fed typically would raise borrowing costs, or at least keep them elevated, to combat worsening inflation. At the same time, hiring has weakened considerably and the unemployment rate rose last month to a still-low 4.3%. The central bank often takes the opposite approach when unemployment rises and cuts rates, to spur more borrowing, spending, and growth. Powell signaled late last month that the Fed may focus more on risks to the job market in the coming months, which makes rate cuts more likely. Wall Street investors now expect three quarter-point reductions this year, which would reduce the Fed’s short-term rate to about 3.6%, from its current level of 4.3%. The Fed cut its key rate three times in 2024, but has kept it unchanged since then. Powell has said the central bank wanted to evaluate the impact of Trumps tariffs on the economy before making any moves. Christopher Rugaber, AP economics writer
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E-Commerce
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